We understand that you are scheduled to speak at the ‘Think ‘13 Festival’ being organized by Tehelka at the Grand Hyatt, Bambolim, Goa from 8th to 10th November 2013.

We bring to your kind attention the following brief facts regarding the said event:

Most of the sponsors are alleged to be involved in major illegal activities such as illegal mining scams, telecom scam, Radiatapes, Sponsorship of Salwa Judum, environmental destruction and displacement of indigenous communities.

The organizer of the event is collaborating with the illegal acts of these corporations. The refusal to expose illegal mining in Goa, in spite of having a story researched by one of their own journalists much before it became Public knowledge, amounts to covering up the illegal mining and allowing the wanton destruction (done by the same corporations who are sponsoring the event now).

The venue is a construction in violation of CRZ laws.

The event is for the very rich only, as is evident from the entry charges.

It is very clear that holding this event is only an attempt to create a clean image for the same corporations who are alleged to be involved in massive scams, environmental destruction and displacement of indigenous communities.

Dear Kamayani, I hope that the Goan Society has actually sent this letter to each speaker, and will publish the responses that they receive. I appreciate Tehelka’s interest in speaking at different venues to different audiences, but the prohibitive entry fee defeats the purpose of a thinkfest. Why not use all that corporate sponsorship to cover the venue costs and lower the admission? A similar trend is going on with the TED and TEDx which bring all the elite together to think about social and economic issues, and this too happens on land from which people have been illegally displaced, e.g. Lavasa.